Diego Haxion

(sorry for the extremely long chapter)

PoV Diego

Everything felt suffocating to me. All around me, I could see the distorted faces of the many scientists who created me; they were smiling, applauding, and cheering on as they celebrated the birth of their new weapon. A pale child with white hair that possessed unmatched strength as well as weird magical powers, at his peak he was almost as strong as me.

"We did it!" They were shouting.

"We created the perfect weapon." They were cheering each other on.

"Finally, after all of these decades, we finally managed to create the perfect soldier!" Their wicked smiles were enough of a reason to kill them.

What infuriated me was mainly the fact that they were lying; he was the strongest weapon they could control, and I was the strongest of them all.

"You're wrong; I'm the strongest!" I shouted at them.

"Can he do this?" I shouted as I started to massacre some of my brothers in various different ways: I used the laser eyes; I brainwashed them and made them kill each other; I also made them explode in various ways; I tore their limbs apart; and lastly, I ate them. No one was as strong and brutal as me.

But no one paid attention to me, even as I was killing hundreds and hundreds of other potential soldiers, making them lose millions each day. They simply ignored me, unfazed by the horrors I was committing behind their backs.

Till that point, I was the pride of their lab; I was the strongest, so strong they couldn't even contain me; I gave them the honor to serve me, and yet as soon as they managed to somehow create someone almost as strong as me, they decided to discard me completely.

Immediately after, I found myself in a red room with many lasers pointed at me, ready to shoot at me at any time. They were trying to find something to kill me with and testing new weapons every day. Their efforts were futile, as no weapon could even scratch my skin.

But that blessing didn't last long, as I started to gradually lose my powers. But even then, they couldn't contain me. Whenever they didn't feed me enough, I would always attack some of the scientists and eat them alive; if they didn't give me enough water to drink, I would make sure to drink their blood in front of them; and if they dared talk back to me, I would make sure to make them murder their own families using the brainwashing ability.

Later in life, I got sent to the failure room, where all the unstable ones were being kept—the ones whose organs were barely functioning and that couldn't even stay alive without a machine supporting them. But not all hope was lost, because I still had my mother.

She was some sort of alien corpse being kept alive by the many machines attached to her body. She was extremely big, big enough that if she wasn't weakened by the environment, she would have destroyed the world with her hands. Yet with some weird ability, she managed to compress her body down to the size of a large container ship, which was now being used for all kinds of experiments.

"You're perfect the way you are." She often said,

"I'm sure you will be able to bring change to this world."

"You're fated to do many great things."

"There is no man better than you will ever be."

But I know all of those things were lies; otherwise, there would've been no reason for her to hide the fact that she was secretly training my half-brother. She wouldn't have cried when I killed him, and she wouldn't have called me her worst tool ever created.

'I hear something annoying ringing in the background.'

As I was walking inside the ruins of that lab, I saw that some of the kids had survived the whole thing; they were scared of me, they were trembling like newborn animals, and they barely had a personality of their own.

'I'm sorry, brothers and sisters, but at that time there was no way I could've let you escape.'

It was something that had to be done. It was impossible to lay low while leading so many clueless children to wander around in such a cruel and unforgiving city. That's how I justified it in my head. Not that I needed to justify it; after all, I'm perfect.

"Diego!" I heard someone shouting.

"Forren, go shut him up." I said while pointing in the direction of the voice.

"D-d-d-do I really have to?" A meek little child responded.

He was the youngest brother, gifted with extremely fast growth, strength, and regenerative powers. He had dark hair and dark eyes; he was covered in blood; and his clothes were reduced to just a couple of shirts tied to his legs.

He was different from the rest; he was also given a lot of power by my mother, but she quickly discarded him as soon as he failed to control his powers, so I used mine to stabilize his body, and together we became the strongest duo in existence.

"Diego!" The voice shouted once more.

"This is an order: kill him!"

As usual, his eyes changed and became red; he disappeared immediately after.

The environment around me was still changing, from a dark alley full of corpses and trash to a prison, from a luxurious office full of people dressed in white dresses and vibrant colors to a giant hall where a lot of people around me were dancing.

"Diego, I know you can hear me wake up!"

The voice felt somehow familiar. Every time the voice spoke, time around me would freeze, some parts of the background, like chandeliers or paintings, would fade into nothing, and the room would get brighter and brighter.

Then everything exploded. Of all those people, just one extremely young girl survived. I was barely alive; the explosion had taken my right arm along with my right eye. That girl somehow managed to carry me to safety, and along with

'Okay, I got it; you won.'

As I finally opened my eyes, I found myself lying on the floor beside a king-size bed in an unfamiliar environment. It looked like an expensive room; purple neon was lighting up the room, revealing a bunch of corpses near the exit door. Besides the table, there was also a strip pole near a table filled with credit cards and bills, as well as some white powder. With something stuck to my arm, my vision was too blurry to identify it, but I immediately took it out and threw it away from me.

'Why was I here again?'

"Diego!" The voice was coming from outside the room, probably from a speaker.

"I'm awake. I'm awake." I shouted back while trying to get up.

It belonged to the manager of the company I work for; we specialize in scavenging shipwrecks in space and exterminating operations.

The bodies that remained in the room belonged to women, most likely whores based on their clothing.

'This is weird; there are no injuries on their bodies; they look perfectly fine.'

"So it was me after all." I was the only one I knew who was capable of such a thing.

As I left the room and headed towards the living room, I saw the face of the manager projected onto a big screen that was located in the middle of the living room. In front of such a screen, there was a bleeding man tied up to a chair.

The man had his head wrapped in many shirts, but the rest of his body was completely naked, with his hands tied up at the back of the chair; he had no nails left on his hands or feet; his tiny dick was impaled by at least a dozen metal toothpicks; and he had many scratches all over his body.

'Man, what happened here? I can't remember a single thing. Was I ordered to do this, or did I...

"Boss, can you hear me?" I finally spoke out once the sense of dizziness was gone and my vision had finally stabilized.

"Diego?"

He was an unfortunate man, balding in his late twenties, fat, sick, and suffering from a slew of strange allergies. Although he may look like a monster, he is actually a very honorable man with a strong sense of duty and exceptional management skills.

"Are you available right now?" He inquired, his demeanor indicating nervousness.

"Kind of, I've had a rough past week because of your assignment, but at last, I think I've killed it."

"SHHHH!" He was so loud, he made my ears ring.

"Goddammit boss! I told you I don't like you shouting in my ears as soon as I wake up." I shouted back.

"Anyway, I've got an emergency, and I urgently need your presence here." He said this before locking his blind office door.

"I will be there in... I don't fucking know, but I'll try my best to be as fast as possible; don't worry, I'll call the others and tell them about the situation." I said this while checking the pulse of the man tied up in the chair. He was dead, unfortunately, so he had no way of answering my question.

"Thank you; don't worry, I've already sent a message to Forren and the others; they're on their way."

Then I heard a loud crash in the living room I had just gotten out of. At that exact moment, he ended the call.

I dragged myself back to that bedroom, and there I found an emergency capsule; it was laying on top of the crushed bedroom and had destroyed a couple of the corpses that were there.

It had an oval shape, and it was designed to open automatically after a short interval of time after it reached the destination.

Inside there was the usual uniform, a gas mask with various spare filters, some modified smokescreen bombs, some lethal gas dispensers in the shape of flashbangs, some sunglasses, and a small box containing all the pills that I needed to keep myself standing.

It was depressing to see thirteen different pills created simply because my body wouldn't let me get out of bed on a normal day, but I swallowed my pride and ingested them as fast as possible while trying not to choke myself to death.

I didn't even know what they contained; all I knew was that the only person who tried to take one of them died of total liver failure, so they had to contain some strong stuff in there.

'I guess this is far more important than I originally guessed; I just hope my body won't fail me when I need it the most.'

Inside the capsule, I also found a spare disposable phone with just a couple of contacts memorized.

'Maybe I should tell her about the situation of my body; I don't want her to make plans counting on something that is simply not working anymore.'

I sent her a quick message, apologizing for the fact that I probably couldn't hold my part of the promise till the end but that it was a pleasure to work alongside her, and the usual things one says before quitting a normal job.

After the quick change in clothes, I decided to swallow one of each kind of pill present in that box to give me the boost I needed for this next operation.

After equipping myself with at least one of every kind of weapon, I tested all the gadgets in my robotic arm in front of a mirror in the bathroom.

The grappling hook was working as intended, and the hidden blade in the forearm was also working as it should, but the gas extractor was leaking. At first, I thought it was because the containers were too full, but after changing them with new ones, the leak was still there.

It was one of the many specialties of my body; it would secrete a lethal gas from my wounds, even from the missing arm, so they built something inside the robotic arm to harvest and use that gas.

'Now that I am quitting, they will probably try to keep me in the circle for this gas.'

After I was done preparing myself, I returned to the living room and finished off the guy I was torturing the other day by taking one of the metal needles stuck in his dick and piercing his throat with it multiple times.

It took me somewhere between twenty and forty minutes to get from that complex to the office using both the grappling hook and the flying vehicles that roamed around the city, although those became impossible to find after a while.

The futuristic city of Lasiax only showed its pretty side to the wealthy and powerful, so much so that they all lived in massive bubbles separated from the rest of the city; they had a high-tech filtration system, fresh air, top-of-the-line health care, and so on and so forth. The rest of the city had to live in what others would call inhumane conditions. Simply put, you had to wear a gas mask at all times or die of lung cancer at the age of 35.

To make a grand entrance, I decided to fall from the second floor of the building directly in front of the entrance to our main building.

Inside the building, in front of the entrance, there were all my subordinates waiting for me, as well as two unknown guards. They were wearing one of those and some sort of formal suit, but I knew that was their armor, a pretty old model with a crappy force shield that was hexagon-shaped and had less than desirable camouflage capabilities, not counting the fact that they didn't conceal the head, hands, or feet.

As soon as I landed behind them, they turned around, all scared, and one of the two guards actually opened fire on me using a concealed plasma weapon in their sleeves.

The plasma shot created a hole inside my new clothes, but it wasn't able to harm me in any way. As soon as the other guard noticed that I was unharmed, he raised his right hand and pointed it at me, ready to shoot another shot, this time aimed at my head.

My trusted followers were all pointing their fire weapons at them, so they couldn't pull the trigger.

"What do you think you are doing?" Gale, a gentle-looking redhead with wavy hair, He wasn't exactly considered tall, at only 1.75 m. Unlike the others, he had no scars or augmentations of any kind.

He is a cocky martial arts practitioner who somehow managed to complete over 20 missions without scarring his body. He is an expert assassin whom I recruited while he was trying to kill me, sort of.

"Pull the trigger against our captain one more time, and I promise you won't survive to tell the tale," said Jacksmitch.

Jacksmitch was pretty average in terms of looks (at least when he wasn't scarred), with brown hair, dark eyes, and a huge scar that blinded him on his left side; he had his left arm and left leg replaced with robotic counterparts after a particular incident. He was 1.75 meters tall. The loudest of the bunch, he had the misfortune of losing parts of his body because of a malfunction. Since then, he has always double-checked our gear and never failed to spot any anomalies.

Mary and Forren remained silent, but they still held their weapons at their heads.

Mary was the shortest. She was a newcomer and the sole survivor of an Amazon mobile colony in space. Standing at 1.65 m, she has a ripped body, purple short hair, and deep blue eyes. She rarely speaks, and usually it's only to answer questions asked directly by Forren.

Forren… There isn't much to say about him, really. Being brothers, we look almost identical to each other. If we ignore the fact that I never shave my beard and do not even take proper care of it, he is also much taller and more muscular than me; he isn't bald, and... Actually, I think we're almost identical; of course, I'm the more beautiful of the two.

"Come on, guys, what are you waiting for? Pull the trigger." I said to taunt them.

It was hard to guess what expression they could've possibly had due to their face being completely covered by black fabric that only left a couple of holes for their eyes.

They didn't pull the trigger on whatever hidden weapon they had, and the moment they put their hands down, I said,

"Just as I thought, now that we're all here, you can lead us back into the office, can't you?" Of course, I didn't wait for them to respond; I simply wrapped my arms around their neck and walked towards the office with them.

While I was walking them towards the stairs, I gently tapped twice the right shoulder of the soldier standing on my left side, then, with my left hand, I feigned a scratching motion in my nose covered by the mask, pressed a really small button, and emitted some sort of cold stream of air from some special holes placed just over the nose. It was loud enough for all of them to hear it as they all put their masks on. The cold steam was just something I had asked the engineers to add to my mask because I loved to confuse newcomers with that thing. Sometimes they would even panic and quickly put on their mask, fearing it would be poisonous, but these guards didn't do anything of the sort.

Before the left guard could turn around, I used an ability of mine to make my arm intangible, then I reached for the guard's throat, and by making certain parts tangible again, I was able to strangle him.

He collapsed after ten long seconds, which was a lot longer than most of my other victims. In the meantime, the other guard started trembling; they probably had started to feel fear, and the death of his companion solidified the fact that they were not getting out of here alive.

Forren stayed behind to dispose of the corpse while I and the rest entered the office.

As soon as I got in, I saw the manager on his knees with his hands up in the air. To hold him in that position, there were a couple of well-armored soldiers that were pointing their rifles at his head, a couple of well-dressed people were sitting on the waiting couch, and another bunch of people were trying to get inside the blinded room.

"What's happening here?" I asked in a loud manner, almost yelling.

"Diego, they're here as customers for today." The manager said his voice was still trembling due to the fear, but he managed to keep most of his composure.

The well-dressed people were dressed mostly in white clothes; it was a dress that looked like a mix between a high-ranking military uniform and a noble dress from an era so ancient I don't know why they still teach it at school. The main colors for their dresses were white and black, with all their ornaments being golden.

'Why do all the nobles have to dress in such a ridiculous manner?'

No noble was allowed to show his true face to a peasant, so they used a special mask that doubled as a gas mask; depending on the family, the mask would either have the shape of an animal, a human, or a mythological creature.

In front of me were a bunch of foxes.

They were all wearing a mantle that was white on the outside and dark on the inside. The one in the middle of the couch then got up, and as he was about to open his mouth, I shot the grappling hook at one of the soldiers that were trying to break the blinded door in the office.

As soon as the grappling hook started pulling back, that soldier flew away from that door at an incredibly high speed. Of course, all the soldiers turned around and pointed their guns at me.

"Stop! Don't shoot!" Shouted the standing noble.

"I believe there has been a small misunderstanding," he continued, but he was quickly stopped by one of my subordinates.

"The situation couldn't be any clearer." Responded Jacksmitch.

"Why not put down the weapons so we can have a nice, normal conversation, huh?" I suggested while grabbing whatever tool that armored man was holding.

My subordinates then slowly backed away in case they tried to shoot at us, while I simply started choking the man on my right side.

"There's no need to shed any blood here, so why not?"

"Tell your men to get away from our office then and grant us permission to kill your camouflaged soldiers, and we might hear what you have to say." I responded without hearing what he had to say.

"What?! There-"

"Gale." I didn't give him enough time to answer again; I just needed to make it clear he heard me.

"Yes sir!" He then started shooting in a random direction, killing people left and right, while I simply let go of the man I was slowly choking with the mechanical arm.

So I then headed towards the manager and helped him get up while the other guard was pointing his weapon at me.

"Don't worry, boss, let me solve this problem for once." I whispered to him.

"Diego, no, we're-"

"Trust me."

I then sat in his chair, and while sitting in his chair, I noticed one of the camouflaged people still alive hiding in the corner opposite to where the Nobles were standing.

'Sigh, and now what? I guess I have to get up again to kill him.'

I pointed my arm at him, and the noble spoke.

"Do you have any idea of what you are doing right now?"

"We are acting according to the law you wrote." I responded by firing the grappling hook once more.

It bounced off his shield, but as soon as Gale saw that, he shot him from the other side of the wall.

"Now that all of our cards are on full display, I think we're ready for a proper conversation, don't you think?" I commented.

"That's unreas-" he was stopped by the Noble on his right.

"Your current manager owns..."

"Weren't you here as customers? I still haven't heard about the job you want us to do."

The reason as to why I was talking so casually to them was mainly because the Fox clan is the weakest out of the noble clans, to the point where they are barely recognized as nobles, meaning that treating them like normal citizens wasn't something they could actually punish me for, as they don't have the funds to hunt me down properly if I were to hide from them.

"By the way, since you made all of that mess on our front door, I think it won't be too unreasonable to ask you to pay us in advance, right?" I added. I didn't really care about the money; I just wanted to interrupt them as much as possible.

I could feel the rage boiling inside them, and all I could think at the moment was, 'Suck it, you piece of shit.'

But the joy didn't last long.

"We're here for an escort, salvage, and possibly an extermination mission," said the standing noble while clenching his fist and gritting his teeth.

'Oh, maybe I should let the manager handle this part.'

Then I heard a bit of commotion downstairs, some shooting and screams, and then the silence returned.

'What was that?'

Gale then came in front of the door, signaling for me to come see something.

"You can probably figure out the rest with our manager here, who is far more experienced than me in negotiating with poor people on a tight budget." I said that before going to check out what happened.

Apparently, a group of soldiers stormed inside the building and ignored the giant man the size of a breath standing in front of it, armed to the teeth. They all died, and he survived thanks to his ability to be a healing factor that keeps him alive no matter what condition his body is in.

He was covered in blood and had just recently impaled a man with just a single fist.

"Look at this mess; there's blood and guts everywhere; it'll take weeks, if not months, to get rid of the smell and everything else. Goddammit Forr, I told you to not go overboard at times like this; this is all potential money we just lost." I said it loudly just to make sure those nobles could know what had transpired downstairs.

'Good job.'

"They don't deserve my mercy." He responded before heading to the office, still dripping blood from his hands.

"I think you should guard the entrance for now. There's no one better than you for this role."

He looked at me with anger in his eyes, but then reluctantly returned to his position.

'Don't hate me; just keep hating them; they're the ones that forced us into this position.' I wanted to say something, but instead I remained silent and moved on.

In the manager's office, everything seemed to proceed smoothly; they were talking about their own things when I returned inside.

"Negotiations are now over; we have proof now that you were the ones that attacked first. There is no need to drag this unpleasant interaction any further." I said as I pulled one of the many gas tanks hidden beneath the black coat.

"Unfortunately, we can't, Diego." The manager stated:

'Huh?'

"An unidentified spaceship is approaching the suspended space station Origathis; they're asking for help, and we believe a calamity is hiding inside the ship." explained the manager.

"Then blow it up; you nobles are fairly good when it comes to destroying mobile colonies, if I remember correctly." I replied.

"The vessel we're talking about is far superior to any mobile colony station ever created, and that is the main issue for now, plus we've already confirmed that most of our weapons don't work on that ship's barrier," corrected one of the nobles.

"And how did you know that there was a calamity inside?" Asked Gale.

'It's obvious even without asking.'

They probably wanted to claim the ship for themselves but failed miserably in doing so; maybe they even sent a bunch of high-grade exterminators only to lose all of them.

'The question is, how much did they lose, and is it enough for us to—no, I doubt it—they probably want to send us in in the hopes we also suffer great losses, to keep their influence high. Politics are tedious, which is why I always told her I wanted to execute them all at once. Why did she embark on this overly complicated path when I alone could have killed them all? No wait, I instructed her to take this kind of path...'

"Boss, this could kill the manager as well." Gale whispered in my ear.

He made me realize that I was about to pull the pin from one of my deadliest gas containers. Everyone was super tense; Jacksmitch also had his hands on a hidden weapon inside his coat; Mary had put on some special goggles to cover her eyes; and the remaining soldiers were pointing their weapons at me while desperately waiting for the order to shoot from their superiors.

"My apologies." I said this while quickly hiding the small container of gas and retrieving it as fast as I could.

'I can't slip out now, Diego. Focus, focus!'

As of late, my mind had deteriorated to the point that sometimes I would act out on my most evil—no, murderous—instincts. I don't know what caused this to happen, but it has only gotten worse over time.

"Gale, Jack, and Mary, escort the manager back to the blinded room; kill anyone who gets too close to it, and make sure he deletes everything in there. Even if we can't return, we must make sure that they can't take any crucial information about us." I ordered them before going down the stairs to wait with Forren.

He was... making sure no parts of the enemies' armor would go to waste, but since most of those armors were directly connected to the spines of their users, he was basically ripping apart their bodies, collecting every part necessary, and dunking it in a special hidden storage that was connected to one of our disposable factories. We would often send our broken or malfunctioning equipment to them for repair.

It was a small capsule mounted on top of an underground railway. It was a safe way to transport and travel through the two opposite parts of that metropolis.

We managed to finish moments before the nobles and their soldiers came down; both didn't seem too pleased about the mess we made. Of the guards, only two survived, and they were the ones with the thickest layers of armor, an armor that enveloped the whole body and replaced many body parts; that line of soldiers was called Barix.

Their armor was the culmination of the technologies discovered so far—the perfect mix between machine and human—with the strength to easily tear apart a heavy armored tank, the agility and speed of a racing car, the best camouflage capabilities, and a shield strong enough to withstand a cannonball.

'I didn't notice them... Maybe my nose is also getting a bit faulty.'

But not even those mass-produced weapons of destruction could beat me when I was at my peak; those can barely be called toys.

As I was thinking of a way to deal with them, one of them spoke.

"Follow us."

'Don't start acting arrogant on me, kid. There's a reason only the most worthless of the noble faction was sent here to negotiate.'

"We'll wait until the rest of us are here." I responded.

The barix didn't seem in the mood to wait, so he tried to grab me by the throat. He was easily stopped by Forren, and the barix's left arm was stopped by Forren's right arm.

Then I heard a tick, and the Barix exponentially got faster and stronger, but once again, he couldn't match Forren when it came to sheer strength.

I couldn't help but laugh at that situation.

'In the end, even this weapon you're so proud of pales when confronted by this "failure" of yours that you condemned to a dog's death. AHHHH! They must be turning in their graves at the mere thought that their descendants couldn't even hope to match their own "failures."

To end this struggle, Diego put his right leg on the enemy's side and used it as a lever to pull and rip away his arm.

Of course, there was no way they would actually allow us to kill one of them, and Forren's head was blown away by a bunch of enemy projectiles shot by the other Barix.

"WHAT?!" Shouted one of the two soldiers as he witnessed Forren's head regenerating.

As soon as the regeneration was over, he quickly pulled out a spare mask to use in those kinds of situations.

"Do not-" The noble tried to warn us once more.

"Your buddy attacked us first; we only taught him a lesson on patience and respect; we never really intended to kill him." I responded as he drew and pointed his weapon at us.

'You have nothing but to lose in this situation; your only choice is to take our words at face value and bow down like the dog you are.'

The injured soldier flew away while the other kept a close watch on us.

PoV Diego (part 2)

We waited for the rest of the crew to come back, and when they returned from there, I warned each and every single one of them that ours was not a rescue mission. It was a delicate topic to discuss with some of them, who had a somewhat strong sense of justice. More specifically, I was talking about Mary.

Since she had already experienced what it was like to have all the nobles' weapons pointed at her, she was the one with the highest risk of sabotaging the operation.

So, to make everything crystal clear and leave no potential loopholes for her to abuse, I put myself in front of her and placed my hand on her chest. When I placed my hand on someone's chest like that, it always meant one thing.

"Disobey me, and you're dead."

"Saving people is not our priority; just focus on dealing with their army and the calamity first, and only then will we maybe think about saving aliens, got it?"

Her eyes were filled with rage, but she had no other choice but to clench her fist and bow her head; otherwise, from that position, I could've immediately killed her on the spot.

"I'm glad we came to an agreement then."

After that, we followed them to their fancy car, a long, floating black limousine with many fox-inspired ornaments decorating the car.

The interiors were mostly made of white leather; there was a table with some drinks no one dared to drink.

'Shit, I forgot the gas was leaking. I hope you guys brought enough spare filters because otherwise...'

At that moment, the Nobles started distributing all the files regarding the mission we were about to partake in.

Apparently, every scavenger had been called, even the ones that weren't affiliated with us, as well as a lot of soldiers from the Noble faction and probably over a thousand Barix.

To someone else, that may have looked like overkill, but that's simply how serious the situation has now turned. With a calamity confirmed and an unknown, more advanced vessel capable of withstanding even their weird space cannons, lasers, or whatever, the reaction was more than appropriate.

So far, what we knew about said vessel was that it was the biggest I've ever witnessed. If something of that size managed to somehow fall on our planet, the impact that it would leave would be terrific. It was big enough to take at least a couple of states.

The vessel had many turrets located in many different spots, granting protection from all sides, but it had a small problem. A breach in the bridge of the ship was most likely caused by our little intruder.

The original plan was to get inside through that hole, but apparently something inside the ship managed to open a way for us to enter on the right side of the ship, opposite to the first hole. The reason why we gave up on the idea of getting inside through the first hole was mainly caused by our weird little companion; he was capable of emitting something that really messed up the ship's system, causing it to black out. So far, out of the thirty ships sent towards that side, none have returned.

'Wow, they don't even bother to hide the fact that they tried to destroy the ship multiple times now.'

Our mission was simple: be the meat shield for the special Barix unit; they would be the ones slaying the creature, taking all the merit, and taking control of the ship; we, on the other hand, would be forgiven for all of our previous crimes, such as conspiring against the government, several crimes against humanity, and a number of other smaller things.

'If somehow we get control of that thing, then everything will be over, our long-lasting fight will come to an end, and we will be the sole victors.' I thought while looking at the file they had provided me.

'There's no way they can simply show us something like this and... and expect us to simply collaborate with them; they must have something prepared. Calm down, Diego; don't get greedy now; stay calm; and don't show them your intentions. That way, we can maybe end the fight once and for all.'

I was starting to get high hopes as I was reading the details of the mission and the vessel in question.

'They had to know that there was no way we would bow to them that easily; how or why are they even allowing us to do such a thing? Are they certain that the number, or Barix, is sufficient to wipe us all out in one big operation, or... There has to be a trap somewhere around these parts, but where?

I kept meticulously reading all the files and cross-checking the papers to see if they were telling each of us a different story.

'There has to be something I'm missing; do they think that by just killing us they will cripple the organization? I'm almost retired, and the rest of them, except maybe for Forren, wouldn't represent a major loss for the organization... No, why am I believing every word in this? What if they are lying about some specific aspects?'

"About the aliens, what are we supposed to do with them?" Asked Jacksmitch.

The nobles remained quiet for some time, staring at each other, and then the youngest one replied.

"You're free to open fire as soon as you see them; if instead, you can determine with certainty that they won't represent a threat, risk, or burden for the operation, then I guess you're also free to rescue them."

I then cleared my throat to get the attention of the nobles and started asking random, pointless questions to make sure my subordinate would stop riling up Mary. I needed her to remain calm and not have useless hopes, because if not, one mistake could give them the justification to attack us.

'But this is getting annoying; why should I bother doing all of this when I could just kill her? If she doesn't want to back down even when death is in front of her, why should she still be allowed to live?'

She was still clenching her fist as well as her teeth; she was holding Jack's hand with a tight grip, to the point where she was also digging her nails into his skin.

'I don't think that's an acceptable state to be partaking in a mission of this caliber.'

"Forren, once we arrive at the station, tell Mary that she can go back home; she's not wanted for this operation, and tell her that if she comes inside the ship on someone else's team, you and I will hunt her down." I whispered this in Forren's ears.

He then whispered it back to her. The reaction she and Jack had was to be expected; she was resentful, and he was a bit shocked. At least he understood why I said that, but she seemed to take it far more personally than I had anticipated.

'Who cares at this point? She has been warned; now she can only blame herself for the future that lies ahead of her.'

The driver drove like a madman, always at top speed, even when we were flying, and one bad turn would have proved fatal to everyone inside. Thanks to that, it was a bit hard to read properly, but with enough focus, I managed to read the whole thing.

They assigned each of us to a different role and team to work in, divide, and kill. That was way too obvious on their part. I remained silent for the rest of the trip until we arrived at our destination.

"Gale, tell Jack to never leave my side for now." I whispered to him while the Nobles were guiding us through the large airport.

Since those nobles felt like throwing away a bunch of money, they had prepared a bunch of extremely high-cost luxury spaceships that would then carry us to the space port of Rava, the biggest spaceport to have ever been built.

By the time we arrived there, all the blood had dried up. I could hear people gasping in shock as soon as Forren got in; he was the only one covered in blood.

As I walked inside, looking for a seat with at least four seats, I noticed that not everyone was wearing a gas mask.

'By the time we reach the spaceport, all of the ones without a mask will be feeling something; the rest instead might just get away with a mild headache. It's unfortunate, but it's not like they will survive anyway.'

It didn't take long to find a spot with six seats; most of the seats were already taken, but that wasn't a big deal as that problem was easily fixable. So I kindly approached them and gently asked them to move out of the way.

I was surprised when they refused. I didn't believe it to be possible when I had a giant muscular man by my side who was also covered in blood and had a baggy and long coat covering all the possible hidden weapons he's wearing on his body.

Common sense would dictate that you would silently give the seat to the big, threatening guy and shut the fuck up. But they didn't; he asked who I was, and after I told him my name, he started laughing with his little group of friends. I would lie if I said that didn't piss me off.

But I am a reasonable person, so I chose the most peaceful option.

"Forren, this is an order; drag them out; if they dare to protest or if they try to draw out a weapon, rip their heads off their bodies." I whispered to him, and he did just that.

He first started undoing the belt of the one closest to me, and once those guys punched Forren in the face, he managed to grab his hand by the wrist after he got hit.

"If you keep struggling, I will have to kill you, sir. Leave quietly while you can, or else."

They didn't even give him enough time to react before one of their comrades shot Forren in the head. Gale sighed in disappointment, and Jacksmitch simply covered his eyes. Forren then drew the man closer by grabbing his wrist with his left hand and grabbing his neck with his right. As soon as he did so, all the guys' teammates started shooting Forren in panic.

Judging by his expression, Forren looked annoyed by the situation. He had neither pity nor anger set towards them; he probably just wanted to sit in peace, and now he had to kill more people just to take their seats.

With his inhuman grip, he managed to break the man's neck, and as soon as he died, he tossed his body to the side as if it were just a bag of thrash.

"Oi, if you care about the life of your captain,"

A man tried to stop the bloodshed by pointing his handgun at me, but Gale was quick to kill him—so quick he couldn't even finish his sentence.

By that time, Forren had killed another man while the others fled towards the bathrooms.

"As you saw, shooting us is useless, so why not?" Gale shot at someone behind him, and another one tried to kill me.

"I would like to keep the amount of blood." Gale shot a couple more times.

"I don't think you're really getting the big picture here; we're not afraid of killing you all if that means that we have a more peaceful peace." Gale fired another shot.

At that point, another team came in, and they screamed in fear at what they saw.

"Before you draw your weapon and get uselessly killed, why not carry out the corpses?" I said to them while Gale was keeping the rest of the passengers in check.

'I'm glad to know that your senses are just as sharp as they were the day we met Gale; you were probably my second-best subordinate, and I won't forget to reward you appropriately afterwards.'

It took me great effort not to smile; smiling in that sort of situation would have only caused more chaos and more deaths, and I couldn't risk losing a talent like Gale now with that kind of mistake. So, after removing the corpse of the man Forren killed moments before from my seat, I sat down.

But the situation just kept on escalating more and more, to the point where Barix intervened and ordered us to change planes. By the time we were kicked out of that plane, about forty-five people had died at the hands of Gale, six from Jacksmitch, and five from Forren.

To avoid such an unfortunate event from happening a second time, we were transported to the space port via a small space ship that could fit about ten people, excluding the pilots.

It took around five hours, if not more, to reach the space port of Rava, the biggest spaceport existing in our solar system. This is where all the ships that cannot fly inside the atmosphere stop, or at least the biggest ones, the ones that carry important cargo, and the VIP spaceships.

It bolstered the strongest security system, with over seven thousand Barix ready to take action at all times inside, operating the strongest cannons ever built. This was like a massive fortress.

'I remember they tried to build an orbital cannon here, but in the end, most of the small noble houses and other decently sized ones opposed the idea and almost went to war against each other just to stop that from happening. What a bunch of lunatic idiots!

The pilot then guided us to the ship we were assigned to; we ignored the other ship and headed to the biggest ship available, a massive ship with five floors, several hundred meters in diameter, and probably a mile or more in length.

It was a decently sized ship for this operation, as after a closer look, I realized that at least half of the spaceport was preparing itself for this operation. The staff members were working to the bone to ensure every ship was ready and fully operational by the time we'd taken off.

It was hectic; many ships would come, fuel up, and fully gear up their soldiers, then take off immediately after they were done. Immediately after, a new ship would dock and do the same thing. If it weren't for the fact that over half of the process was managed by machines, then I'm sure that the employees would have already screwed up big time.

The man guided us through the ship and down to the bottom floor, where we and some other groups were residing; more specifically, it was a simulation room. Basically, a room full of capsules that, once connected to your spine, can recreate a very realistic illusion. They can be used for combat training, information gathering, and other small, handy things, like recreational purposes.

Nobody in my group had the proper implants to get inside one of those machines; that was a given. I hated them with all my heart, as those things couldn't possibly be compared to real training with real danger involved.

Before going in, I took out my phone and sent a text message to the head of our small group, one of my dearest friends. All I sent her was, "I'm currently inside a spaceship in Rava; ask the manager for the rest of the details. I just wanted to tell you that it has been a pleasure working for you for the past ten years. You're a wonderful person; if you ever start doubting yourself, just remember all the people we saved, and if that doesn't seem to be enough, just keep pushing for the people who died for our cause."

At first, it was just a prank; because I was immortal, none of those sentimental messages really held any value. I would often use these kinds of messages here and there to cheer her up at times, but as time passed and my powers kept weakening, I started taking that a bit more seriously, and now, I barely even knew if I would've made it back this time.

'But it's fine,' I repeated myself.

The era of Diego the superhuman guardian was now over; we had already expanded our dominion, gained powerful allies, and successfully infiltrated the enemy lines. Surviving here was just a plus, not a necessity. My loss wouldn't have been too big anyway. Her opinion may not be the same as mine, but in this case, we shouldn't trust our emotions.

I also wanted to add that this was probably my final gift for her, but I didn't want to make the mood any sadder, so I simply typed one last goodbye before going inside the simulation room.

The room was pretty large; it was sort of divided into two parts. The first one was some sort of locker room; it definitely had many lockers and benches to sit on, but it wasn't separated from the many capsules with a wall or door of any kind—something a bit strange that didn't really bother me.

Gale had already activated the camouflage function on his special suit and was now completely invisible; I could barely smell his scent, but I knew he was there; Forren seemed interested in the simulation capsules, but appeared to be too big to fit in one; and Jack was instead sitting down next to Mary, awkwardly staring at her.

The one that guided us there instead was patiently waiting for me to come inside the room, and after I got in, he went to a certain corner of the room and grabbed a microphone.

It was the tool that needed to be used to relay messages to the ones inside the simulation capsule, since they were fully immersed in their own little simulation and shouting from the outside would've been pointless.

He called for someone named Mirko, announcing that he had important information to give, and soon after, one of the many capsules opened. It produced a young, twenty-something man. He was a little thinner than I would have expected a team leader to be; he was blonde and had short hair. A problem I saw was that he had piercings all over his body; there were some on his nose, ears, lips, tongue, eyebrows, nibbles, and so on.

He seemed a bit irritated but calmed down as soon as he saw the man who guided us there.

"Ishi! So you got called in as well!" said the blonde man while dashing towards the guide, going for a hug.

"It's good to see you healthy, Mirko," he responded while hugging him.

After the hug, the blond man asked, "So what's the hurry? Why did you call me when we still haven't departed?"

"I called you here to present to you the leader of Team 85; his name is Diego Haxion. I hope-"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait a second; you're telling me that I'm not the team leader? But why? This guy looks like he could die at any minute. No offense, of course."

"That's what the higher-ups decided; I'm sorry." He responded before heading outside.

"Don't tire yourself too much using those simulations. A couple of Barix will be sent when we're halfway there to check up on you!" He shouted from the elevator before going upstairs.

My squad was the one with the fewest members in terms of sheer numbers. Instead, this guy's team probably had around forty members. It was a bit over the normal amount, but if he managed to keep it functional, then I had no complaints.

"Where's the rest of your squad?" Mirko asked me in an aggressive tone.

"This is my squad." I responded by remaining as calm as possible to avoid conflict.

"Are you fucking with me?" He kept his aggressive tone and got closer.

"I wouldn't recommend doing that." I said as I grabbed his left wrist, stopping him from grabbing my coat and possibly exposing all the weapons I was holding beneath it. This also prevented his death since Gale doesn't like people not showing the appropriate respect to me.

"Don't worry… Ishi. I didn't come here to steal your spotlight; I'm just doing what I'm being paid for; you can keep commanding your troops for all I care; just know that the moment you'll get in my way will be the last thing you'll do in your life." I said to him, releasing his hand.

'Now go cool your head a bit before you return.'

I then turned around and looked at the rest of my team.

'Now, who shall I task for what? I think Jack and Mary should be the ones creating the distraction, Gale. Dammit, I should've requested for someone else to come here; losing him on this mission feels like such a waste of his talent. And it's not like he would follow any order coming from the others... Why are you so good yet so strange? A couple of Barix will come this way when we reach the half point; I guess he should assassinate them. As for Forren, you'll be the one killing every person in the communication room; no one is more fit for that than you.'

With a single whistle, I got their attention.

"I really don't feel like eating any more meat today. Do you all feel the same?" I asked them.

"I don't really like white meat, but I think I'm down for everything else." Responded Mary.

'I guessed so.'

"I'm fine with anything." Responded Forren.

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of the taste of meat, especially when it comes to a juicy steak." Responded Gale.

"I'm also ready to eat anything; I just hope the meat isn't too tough for the teeth." Responded Jack.

'I guessed that was the right call.'

"Then it's decided that after this, we're all going to have a barbecue. I still have some meat left in my house from last time. I guess Mary and Jack will have the leftovers; Forren gets the pork belly; and Gale, I think you can take the rest. What do you think?"

Mary didn't seem too pleased with my plan, but in the end, she agreed, just like the rest of them.

'Then it's done; it's a bit sad that those innocent scavengers got involved in this mess of a situation, but we certainly don't have the luxury to prioritize their lives over our goal.' I thought as I sat down on the bench and waited.

'We're finally close to the final we always wanted, now onto our last push.'

PoV Diego

When I woke up, I was in a vastly different room from where I fell asleep. I remember falling asleep inside a room full of simulation capsules inside a ship during an important operation, and...

'Wait! The operation!'

I jumped out of bed and was immediately blinded by the sunlight coming from the window placed next to my bed.

"Where am I?What happened to the operation?"

I started to turn around to get an idea of where I was, and the first thing I thought of was that I somehow got kidnapped in my sleep and was now being held captive somewhere. But that was not the case, as I realized after I opened the window and breathed fresh air for the first time in a long while.

"No! This can't be! How in the... Why me? No! I need to get back to that ship. NOW!"

I was about to get out of that apartment when I realized that I was completely naked, so I immediately headed back to the bedroom to find something to put on, and just as I found a nice shirt, I realized that my right arm had somehow regenerated, and then as I started to check my face with my hands, I noticed that my right eye was also back.

"What is this? They were gone. What is happening?"

'Is this the Noble's doing? No! Their technology is not that advanced. What about... no, it wouldn't make sense; who in the world would be crazy enough to restore my body?'

I checked on the table to see if my ability still worked, and it did; I was still able to pass through solid objects just fine.

After dressing up, I searched for a bathroom and immediately checked my face. I had somehow rejuvenated; now I looked like a young man in his mid-twenties with quite a handsome face. My skin was smooth; I had no beard; there were no bags under my eyes; and I wasn't as pale as a corpse anymore. It looked so different from the usual that I could barely recognize myself.

Unfortunately, with all my ugliness, my muscles had disappeared as well; my arms were now flaccid and weak, just like my legs. My hands, too, were so untrained that they looked like the hands of a man who does nothing all day long.

A part of me liked that look; it was the look I always wanted to have, and it reflected my dream lifestyle, but a busy soldier like me cannot afford to have that kind of physique, at least if he wants to remain functional.

Then I heard something ringing inside my bedroom, and in a drawer on the nightstand, I found a small digital watch and a small tablet.

'Wow, is this thing still used somewhere?'

The one ringing was the watch, and the cause was an alarm; it said, "Thirty minutes left to the welcome party; details on the tablet."

'Welcome party? Do they think they can just kidnap me here and–'

I was surprised at the map of the place where they kidnapped me; it was just a normal resort. It wasn't normal by any means; that place looked far larger than any other place I've been. The entire place had over thirty buildings, each over a hundred and fifty floors tall, that did not include the gym, swimming pools, recreational zones, or other parts that were not too far from the resort.

"If I want some answers, that place is probably the place I can get some."

So I ignored everything—the layout of my apartment, the number of doors, the floor as I was on it, the people that were also heading there—all to get to that room as fast as possible.

When I finally reached that massive place, I felt overwhelmed by what I saw. Various different kinds of beings, ranging from human-looking to complete monsters, were also flooding the place, just as confused as me, asking questions to each other, trying to figure out which year it was, which day, or anything for that matter.

Each one of them had its own devices; some had tablets just like mine, some others had some sort of floating interface, and some didn't seem to have anything at all. Then, the display of the tablet changed, all the apps and maps disappeared, and now the only thing it showed was a 3D arrow pointing in some random direction.

While I was making my way through that massive crowd of people, I started to see some round tables here and there, each with four seats resting on top, a small note with a random number written on it, and a bunch of fancy tableware.

I kept following the arrow until I finally reached the table I was assigned to, and I noticed Forren was already sitting on it along with two weird girls; their skin was somewhat purple, their hair was of a weird fluorescent color that kept changing color, and they had horns.

The two girls were extremely different in both aspects and behavior. The older one was probably in her late twenties, maybe early thirties; she had a couple of long horns on the sides of her forehead; she had long straight hair that fell down to her waist. She looked like some kind of model, gentle and delicate in demeanor and with a stunning face and body; the other girl, instead, was...

She was much shorter, had short, messy hair, had just one small horn on the left side of her forehead, and had some sort of tomboy look, both in her clothes and in her looks. She was resting her head on the table, so I couldn't take a proper look at her face.

"Captain-"

"Spare me the details; tell me what happened after you got out of the simulation room."

As soon as I sat down, I saw the little girl slightly tilting her head to her right in order to take a small peek at me.

"And who are these girls?" I asked him.

"It is an honor to meet the hero and savior of our species. My name is Folarin Agiante, and I'm the one who chose to bring you back to life." said the girl after getting up and bowing down to me.

Even then, she kept exuding this refined aura, one that was often present in people I wanted to point my weapon at.

"Ah, so I guess this is the future." I said.

"Yes, that is correct." She responded, still bowing down.

"At ease, there's no need to be so formal around me." I said.

"I wouldn't dare, after everything you've done for us—no for everyone in-"

"Can you stop? We all got it the first time!" said the other girl, smashing her fist against the table.

"Boss, what's the last thing you remember?" asked Forren with a worried look on his face.

'So we're just going to ignore those two? Fine.'

"I think the last thing I remembered was falling asleep in the simulation room, shortly after you got away from there." I replied.

"So, you forgot the entire operation... don't worry, boss, the operation was a success; we managed to defeat both the calamity lurking in the ship and the enemy fleet of spaceships." He assured me.

"And these are..." I pointed at them while waiting for him to complete my sentence.

"The survivors we rescued inside the ship, boss, are more likely their descendants." He replied.

"You! long horns, what happened after our death?"

She didn't seem all too pleased that I ignored her before, but she replied nonetheless.

"In short, a civil war ensued; it was guided by the likes of Forren and funded by..."

Suddenly all the lights got shut down, and a weird force was also blocking me from speaking. The room fell silent as the only light present shone brightly in the middle of it. The beings that were basking in said light were something my eyes couldn't even fathom.

Almost every cell in my body was telling me to escape, yet my eyes kept staring at those beings; they had the shape of human beings, but at the same time, their bodies were ever-changing and absolutely colorless.

They had some slight differences, such as one being slightly smaller than the other, but in no way did the smaller one feel weaker than the bigger one, and so on.

"My dear guests, I give you my welcome," said the smaller being. His voice echoed inside our heads, making our bodies tremble just at the sound of it, making some of us puke and some others fall into panic.

"Today, on this joyful day, I started the countdown to the end of the universe." He proudly stated this while opening its arms.

"I am the one and only God of Combat!" He shouted.

"And here besides me is the God of War!" He proudly announced

"The reason we gathered you here, warriors of the past, is to save your own planet, to prove to me that you still have what it takes to be a warrior worthy of surviving the changes about to come!"

After that, his words no longer hurt like they did before; they still made my body tremble out of control, but now it was a bearable feeling. Forren, on the other hand, had begun to bleed from his nose, and the girls... Long Horns had already passed out, and Small Horns was beginning to choke on her own puke.

"And the rewards for completing this trial are everything! EVERYTHING YOU'VE EVER WANTED, A ONE-TIME WISH GRANTED TO YOU, BY THE GODS YOU ONCE WORSHIPED!"

When he started to shout, Forren's blood disappeared, long horns woke up, and the small horn puke was gone.

Then the other figure stepped up.

"The trial is simple; we've prepared one hundred and fifty stages, and each one has an objective you all have to complete as a group. You'll also have to take care of your own survival in the uninhabited world we created just for this event."

The second god had a much older voice; he sounded like a man in his late forties. While the being was starting his speech, he started creating visions in our heads; he showed us various images of ourselves fighting enemies capable of splitting mountains, fighting dragons, and so on and so forth.

"But worry not, as that will not be a big problem later on. We'll plan on rewarding strong warriors such as yourself with a point system that will scale based on how much of your physical and magical potential you've managed to acquire and the number of stages completed. This point system will function like a currency. You will be able to buy any item you want from the shop given that you have enough points to actually purchase said item."

As the god kept speaking in our heads, the vision shifted; now he was showing us how the world was. He showed us many kinds of unimaginable biomes, from forests made out of weirdly growing crystals to flying mountains, a floating ocean suspended way above the clouds, giant caves brimming with light, and light-emitting trees.

"You can team up with whoever you want whenever you want, but one thing you'll have to remember is that killing other participants is forbidden. One last thing I'll add before we go: we added some sort of class system that will help your growth in many ways. The classes in question are: knight, support, mage, and scout. Make sure to communicate well with your team and create a balanced team."

He showed us then where the shop is located within the tablet and where we could select the classes.

"For more information, you can still check the devices we granted you. Now all that is left is for you to enjoy the welcoming party."

After uttering the last words, they disappeared completely.